Joanna Allhands is The Republic’s digital opinions editor, overseeing our opinions content on the web, in video and through social media.
See something about Arizona in the national press that’s worth mentioning? Have local news you’d like to debate? Share it with me via e-mail, Twitter or Facebook.

CPS funding a good start, but what’s next?

The House Rules Committee unanimously approved emergency funding this morning to hire 50 Child Protective Services caseworkers. House Bill 2502, which offers roughly $4.5 million to help clear a case backlog, is expected to get the full House and Senate’s approval later today.

That’s pretty cool. One of lawmakers’ first official actions not only addresses a top priority for lawmakers and the governor, but will have an immediate and significant impact on kids. If they can keep that up for the rest of the session, it should be refreshingly productive.

A press-release quote from House Speaker Andy Tobin, R-Paulden, indicates that lawmakers know they have more work to do on child welfare: “I look forward to hearing more from the CPS Director as we look forward to creating more reforms and solutions that will benefit these children in the FY 2014 budgetary process.”

Keep an eye on how that materializes. Releasing money is easy when there’s a well-defined request and widespread support for it. But it’s far less clear what CPS and lawmakers have on the agenda next.

(Update: Both houses approved the bill, and Brewer tweeted a photo of her signing it into law. The funding is official.)

azcentral.com has switched to the Facebook comment system on its blogs. Existing blog comments will display, but new comments will only be accepted via the Facebook comment system. To begin commenting, you must be logged into an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. While we welcome you to join conversations, readers are responsible for their comments and abuse of this privilege will not be tolerated. We reserve the right, without warning or notification, to remove comments and block users judged to violate our Terms of Service and Rules of Engagement. Facebook comments FAQ

Join thousands of azcentral.com fans on Facebook and get the day's most popular and talked-about Valley news, sports, entertainment and more - right in your newsfeed. You'll see what others are saying about the hot topics of the day.